The sweat was dripping off Friedrich Merz after the frontrunner to become Germany’s next chancellor saw his bid to outflank an ascendant far right spectacularly backfire in the Bundestag.

Chancellor Scholz says rival Merz joining forces with far-right party in parliament to introduce stricter migration legislation ahead of Feb. 23 elections - Anadolu Ajansı

The CDU party chief, who leads in the polls to become the next chancellor, said he would collect votes from all parties to push his five-point migration plan through parliament despite Chancellor Olaf Scholz's strong opposition.

The bill’s defeat — after Merz secured the passage of a similar motion on Wednesday — suggests that some of his own parliamentary group voted against the bill. All of which puts him in an uncomfortable position little more than three weeks from an election that has looked like his to lose.

The bill fell short of 12 votes on Friday. Twelve MPs from Merz’s parliamentary group were absent. The setback came after Merz passed a majority with AfD for a non-binding motion on migration earlier this week,